Illusion of Progress
by Beckon
Summary: This kind of situation would be throwing the both of them out into the raw open though, breaking that invisible wall they had been strengthening over the years... Sequel to Scientific Method.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I was surprised by the number of people who asked for a sequel, I really was... I didn't really think Scientific Method was ever going to take off like it did- sort of. But I was in the mood for a sequel pretty much after I finished the first one. Which, found this out today, I actually wrote this first chapter ten days after Scientific Method was finished; I don't know why I'm surprised by that, but I am. Anyways, it definitely needed a good tune up and overhaul but I'm happy with the renewal of it. In all honesty, I'm just testing the waters with this first chapter, just to see how things go with it; if you like it or hate, just let me know. It literally picks up right where SM ended, so that might cause for some confusion.**

"What do you mean by… an offspring of both Hollow and Shinigami?"

"I didn't think that was even possible."

"Oh goodness…"

He was expecting this kind of reaction... so it wasn't the least bit surprising to him, although the words seemed to be just a tiny bit amusing to the other two who were present. Still, the startled-slashed-surprised expressions that marked the cautious faces of the Captains was entertaining in some kind of sense; it gave him the opportunity to perform a quick study on each one. The black-haired female Captain, with the oddly placed braid in front, he had caught a brief glimpse of her once or twice; the other two, taller men seemed to fit the descriptions that Starrk had passed on, while the shorter male was one Harribel had remarked only once on. Their names escaped him for now... he had long stopped caring about them years ago.

Still, the onslaught of remarks that followed the long, winding pause did give one person here an awakening sense of observation and curiosity. The new voices gently startled the small girl in his arms and made the final push to break her out of the short-lived fit of sleep he had barely managed to achieve. The sudden pull from her nap didn't seem to sit too well at first as her squinted, green eyes passed on a look of questioning to him before she turned towards the source of the commotion. A small mess of pink strands fell into her face but failed to bother her much as that new sense of curiosity easily took over the moment she noticed the new faces that stood before them.

"She looks just like you." Unohana remarked as a light chuckle passed her quiet lips; the words were enough to garner the girl's attention as she looked into the Fourth Captain's direction first and seemed quickly amused by the hanging braid that made its way down the front of her uniform. "She's absolutely adorable as well."

With a low whistle passing through his lips, Shunsui moved to push his kasa-style headwear back and allow for it to dangle against his neck instead; one hand ran over his hair as the current situation seemed both fitting and out of place for them. "Well... I must admit, I was not expecting this." he chuckled briefly. "She does seem to… carry both aspects in her energy though, with what little of it can be read at this moment I suppose; I'm really quite surprised by this announcement… I'm not entirely sure what to say- which is a first for me."

So far so good with the reactions... he had predicted someone to break into a momentary fit at the sudden realization but everyone seemed to be holding themselves well together. For now at least. "To be quite honest, I'm slightly glad for that."

"Might I ask one question?" Ukitake started, finally pushing himself to break his own sense of silence; he waited till the Scientist gave a brief nod of acknowledgement before he continued. "Who or… rather where is her mother?"

Of course.

He had told himself to expect that question and yet… he had failed to garner an answer for it. To be quite frank, he didn't really feel comfortable with the answer either… which also lead to his abrupt distaste in actually answering it. They had both been protective about their voluntary isolation from the others, more happy with keeping their 'relationship' under wraps with the exception of a few given instances. This kind of situation would be throwing the both of them out into the raw open though, breaking that invisible wall they had been strengthening over the years... But, he suppose he couldn't just let them off without an answer. Or even attempt a change in topic for that matter. "She's resting right now; she's recovering from a recent illness and is still regaining some of her strength back."

The answer, truth and all, seemed to send a brief stir across the small group.

"Will we be able to meet her?" Unohana questioned, her expression broken just ever so slightly by a look of concern.

That much... he didn't know. Shifting his arms slightly, he watched as the small girl in his hold turned to set her attention back on him, as though to question him what all the fuss was about. Fingers moved to lightly push aside some of her matching strands and tuck them carefully behind one ear. "... I haven't quite decided on that yet."

"Do you always make the decisions then?" Hitsugaya asked; stepping in on the conversation now as the topic began to shift just ever so slightly. He moved his arms to cross over his chest and set those near piercing, endless eyes onto his own.

This would be the second 'of course' moment for the day, or rather for the hour for that matter.

He should have predicted that someone would take his words and construed them in some sense. Then again, he supposed he left himself open for that one... from their given point of view, it more than likely did sound a bit controlling in a sense. There was still a left over sense of hesitation in splitting their carefully tended world to outsiders; they had grown so accustomed to just the two of them and the few survivors here... any more would add a sense of threat to this petri-grown serenity. If it had been under any other circumstances, he would have no intentions of letting them see her but… at this point, the decision no longer felt as though it was in his power to do. Starrk and Harribel offered no given words on the situation but he had already drawn his own conclusion as to why these Captains were here.

They wanted to make a peace for once. Both worlds were still suffering from repercussions of the war, they were both still recovering but mildly happy with what they had achieved up to this point. This kind of marketed peace would allow for them to avoid most outbreaks in the distant future, providing a moderately safe environment for those involved.

He supposed he just didn't want to be the reason for it's beginning success and then it's crashing failure.

Not to mention, he had already confirmed the mother was a Shinigami... so, given the odds, there was a good chance someone standing right here in front of him would know her. Now just to guess which one… no, now was really not the time for games.

"That was really not the theme I was going for." he started, passing off a moderately disinterested look towards the shorter Captain; he swore he almost hurt his neck having to look down that far just to see the man. "But if that's how you interpreted it, I suppose I can't do much about it."

His answer seemed, by default, good enough for both sides then.

That seemed to be the cue for the cracked Primera to step in on the talk. "Picking up from where we left off before, is this enough to seal your Society's approval? Is this enough to create something for us to work with now?"

"With what? Oh, yes, the plan, of course." Shunsui nodded, fingers briefly bracing themselves against the empty space between his eyes as he recalled the sole reason they were standing here in the first place. "Yes I do believe we have some strong evidence to back up our proposal now and with that, we could efficiently work out the details. And as much fun as we're having here, I suppose we should get back to working on our treaty so we can get this done and sealed as soon as possible."

"I agree." Harribel spoke, giving a following nod as fingertips moved to brush aside the loose blonde strands that toppled across her line of vision. "After all, the sooner it gets done, the sooner we can rest peacefully at night."

The Thirteenth Captain gave a seemingly playful sigh of defeat as the prospect of returning to work was not the least bit entertaining. But the amount of peace that would result from this discussion would solidify that the end justified the means. "... Do you think we could come back and see her when we're through with these talks? I don't believe we ever caught what her name was? Your daughter, that is."

The returning back part was what he hesitated with but, in the end, there didn't appear to be any harm in it.

"Her name's Akira." Szayel replied. "As for coming back to see her… I suppose it wouldn't hurt-"

"We were actually hoping you wouldn't mind joining in on this discussion." Harribel interrupted lightly. "After all… it wouldn't hurt to have your insight on it; Starrk and I only know so much and even then, it might be a bit too much in one perception, if I might say."

The Tercera's odd words seemed to call for a brief look of questioning from those around him, or at least from those who found the remark confusing. He would've passed off the first portion as being somewhat reasonable... but now he knew that she was just making a case.

"And that might mean…?" Ukitake started to question.

Starrk gave a brief shake of his head as though to toss the matter aside and brought his arms up to cross over the crackling, black mess of his chest. "It's a long, uneasy story... but short portions given, there are a few progress moments I wish I could erase from my memory."

Only the hatted Captain seemed to have caught on to the words and offered a slightly masked and muffled chuckle in response.

"Well now, you're the ones who should've knocked in the first place. I warned you." he retorted shortly enough, watching as the two heartless beings looked away for the given moment. "Don't you have a task to be taking on right now anyways?"

"That all depends on what your answer will be." Harribel replied.

"You requested for my presence, it would be terribly rude of me to turn it down- especially given the delicate situation we've all been thrown into. After all, what you said is true and my insight would be far more helpful on the matter than your... loosely based ones will. Just try to remember not to count on it to solve everything." Szayel started, catching the way a few of the Captains gave a short nod to acknowledge the statement. His sense of reluctancy had been worn down enough to where it no longer seemed to matter; its treads had lost grip a long time before. "I'll have to drop Akira back off with her mother seeing as I doubt she'll be able to sit still through this meeting of ours." Here it comes, the largest obstacle for him for now. "... And I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I allowed just one of you to go back and meet her… I really don't like the idea of it but the chances of you meeting with her sometime soon is outside of my range of power."

It was the black-haired female Captain who seemed to pick up on the hesitation in his tone and gave a short smile in return. "I thank you for the offer, my Lieutenant, Isane, will gladly accompany you."

The offer appeared to come much to the dismay of her Lieutenant.

"Captain Unohana, I-"

"This meeting at hand deserves all of our attention as Captains but you are free to learn more about this woman, which is just as important to our cause. Can I trust that you'll handle this situation efficiently and with an open mind?" Unohana asked, lightly interrupting the silver-haired woman's objections.

A light and easy sigh of forfeit escaped the taller woman as she nodded carefully. "I… of course, Captain Unohana." Isane answered.

As much as the thought of it caused her some sense of alarm, she felt she was just as curious as the others to know who this woman was. As hard as she tried to think on it though, not a single name came to mind... All the Shinigamis that were present here years before were killed the day they entered this dimension… so did others come after them? Or did one of them just get lucky? Maybe it was best if she didn't think about it right now.

"Excellent, I knew I could count of you." Unohana smiled.

And just like that, he watched as Starrk ushered for the small group to follow him back to wherever it was that they came from; leaving him with this woman who was apparently some kind of Lieutenant. She was a bit of an odd one though... she matched his height perfectly and yet acted as though he was the taller one in this case. Her silver-locks have been chopped short to create an almost uneven style while a few short braids dangled down the sides of her neck; a pair of vibrant red earrings almost seemed out of place and too bold for a woman like her... then again he supposed he was just being too quick to judge.

"Just follow me back and try to stay close." he advised as he turned to go back down the same corridor he had left moments ago.

If he had known that this entire mess was going to happen the moment he rolled out of bed, he probably would've stayed in longer or best yet, never stepped out of his labs in the first place. Perhaps this was the best way to take on the situation though... out here in the open where certain secrets would be spilled while others could easily be kept out of view.

The corridor seemed to warp itself into twice the distance it was before as a multitude of scenarios raced through his mind.

How exactly was he supposed to explain this to her? How could he put 'A bunch of Shinigami Captains showed up and asked about you' into a more suitable message? Or even the fact that one of them wanted to meet her? He toyed with whether or not he wanted to ask the Lieutenant behind him if she knew anything about her… but he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to give it all away at this point.

It sounded too dangerous.

Hell this whole situation wasn't sitting too well with him but it was out of his power right now and the only other option was to go along with it. As displeasing as it was, he figured he should go ahead and make the most of it, even with the few choices that were available.

"I… I don't think I got your name earlier." the woman spoke as she followed a small distance behind him, heeding carefully to his previous remark.

He glanced back at her for a moment and noticed that she seemed more interested in the scenery around them before he turned back to the path in front of them. "I didn't properly introduce myself earlier- I suppose that was a bit of rudeness on my part, not that I had been expecting a crowd to turn out today. But it's Szayel."

The name didn't sound familiar to her, but then again she didn't know many of their names from the start, so she supposed she wasn't missing out on much. "Kotetsu."

Kotetsu.

Did that name sound familiar to him? Had she mentioned it before? No… no it didn't seem like a name she would say but something about it still sounded familiar. Perhaps she had made a notion of it before while he wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying.

"You said before she was recovering from a minor illness…"

That again?

"Yes but there's not a lot to worry for, her immune system is one of a kind." he started. "It was weakened slightly during her pregnancy, but I think she's finally regaining it back to full health."

"Weakened?" Isane repeated, as though to make sure she had heard the word correctly.

He gave a brief nod, not bothering to care whether or not she could see it. "I believe it was in part to the fact that the child was a mixed hollow, so the difference in energy and the such may have disrupted her body's immune system. It may have been due to the fact that her body wasn't quite sure how to register the embryo seeing it was both part of her and not. We haven't quite figured out the small details in it, but… she is recovering from the aftermath, so everything should be back to normal soon enough."

She was going to admit it was a bit hard to follow what the man was saying but she understood enough of it to cease her concerns. There seemed to be more science behind it rather than medicine, which put her on the handicap side of this conversation. "I guess it would be a downplay if I said all of that sounded interesting. I suppose you were just as surprised by it…"

"Yes, something like that." he spoke, offering a light chuckle before he looked up as the massive interior doors that lead into his lab came into sight. They had sustained minimum damage from the past war and were still in fully-functioning order, which was good seeing as they provided the physical aspect of the barrier to their world. A small keypad not to far from the doors lit up at their approaching figures and he moved to press his hand against the stark white screen; waiting for the scan to complete its run before a small green light flickered on for a few brief seconds. He pushed forward and watched as the doors slid easily aside to allow passage, which enabled him to continue down the next corridor that followed. "We've done the most that we can to try and figure out the biology of it and we're certain we almost have all of it figured out, with the exception of the minor details. There doesn't seem to be any lasting effects on either mother or child, so we can safely assume that as of now, with the time that has passed, there's a minimum chance of something else occurring anytime soon."

"How old is she?" Isane questioned; watching as the small girl seemed intent on staring at her while she was partly hidden by the man's shoulder. Only a pair of green eyes stared back at her and for just a small moment, she almost thought they looked familiar.

"She's three, which is a bit young to make an assumption as such but if there were any problems that would occur in the future, there would've been some mild evidence of them. It's still a working task but so far, we're certain we've cleared most of it."

"That's a good thing I suppose."

"For now it is." Szayel nodded as this corridor now came to closing end at another set of doors. He carefully pushed them aside with one hand and walked into the wide open area that expanded around them. The entrance room wasn't much to look at with its bare walls of white and just a small strip of black that ran through the middle of it. Upon reconstructing it, there had to be some rearranging and modifications to the room, this… this seemed a bit more appropriate for entertaining company, not that he really even did so. Carefully setting down Akira, he brushed aside her messy bangs before he turned back to the woman. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll go see how she's doing. If she's up to meeting you, then you're welcomed to stay and converse with her."

"Thank you." Isane replied.

"I shouldn't be gone long, so I hope you don't mind if I leave Akira with you for a moment. If she says or asks anything inappropriate, feel free to ignore her." he advised before he carefully walked off to one of the doors along the far end of the room and disappeared inside.

A long, quiet sigh left her lips at the absence of the man. The room was somewhat bare with just a few furniture piece and yet it still gave her a bit of a chill. An odd sense of vulnerability washed over her and she couldn't shake the feeling for the life of her. So this was it then? This was where the moment of truth would be the breaking champagne glass for all of them. Part of her was almost too hesitant to know who this woman would be... but part of her needed to know for the sake of keeping her from going insane from the questioning.

She did find it a bit odd for a strange man like him to leave his daughter open in her care... not that she would dare even think to harm the child, but she was still a stranger nonetheless. Then again, she supposed this was his playing field and they were all just invited guests to it; she remembered those trapping hallways from years before that served as a death trap to those unfortunate enough to fail escaping them in time. They didn't have any other choice but to play by the rules and he knew that; that was probably why he didn't fear leaving the young girl alone for a few brief seconds.

A slight tug on her uniform pants snapped her out of her uncomfortable set of thoughts and shifted her attention to the smaller girl in front of her.

"Why do you wear black?" Akira questioned lightly enough; her eyes seemingly intrigued by the dark material that flowed to the ground below. Small hands kept a tiny portion of the fabric in her hold as she tried to figure out its purpose.

"I… that's just what our society wears." Isane answered, not entirely sure how to answer the girl's remark. She didn't realize just how awkward she felt around small children, especially at her height, they appeared so much smaller underneath her. It did give her a chance to get a good look of the girl though; light-pink strands were pulled back into a short, almost non-existant braid that barely touched the back of her neck. She was dressed in a small, white outfit that looked to mimic the one her 'father' wore with a few altercations here or there. "Like how everyone here wears white. I guess you could say we're like opposites."

"My momma wears black, does she come from your society?"

"I guess so."

"But she wears white too sometimes." the girl added as she narrowed her eyes slightly at the thought as though she had just confused herself with the remark. It only lasted a few seconds before she seemingly shrugged it aside for another matter. "You're really tall."

"Ah well yes…" she chuckled lightly, moving one hand to brush uncomfortably through her silver locks. "I get that a lot." she listened as the girl seemed to giggle at the following comment before she tugged at her pant's leg once more as though to usher her to follow her. She gave in and allowed for the child to lead her across the room to one of the larger couches that seemed to be awkwardly placed, like whoever had moved it there really had no purpose for it to begin with. Taking the seat the girl offered her, she did have to remark that the furniture piece was a lot more comfortable than it seemed from a distance. "So can you tell me more about your mother? What does she look like?"

"She has black hair." Akira started as she pulled herself up onto the couch and settled into the far corner portion of it. "And it's pulled back into a braid like mine, only longer. Dad says I have her eyes too, but I look more like him instead."

"Well, from what I've seen, you do look a lot like him." Isane smiled.

"I wish I had darker hair like hers though."

"You just can't pull it off as well as I do."

Isane glanced up at the remark and watched as the scientist slowly made his way back across the room towards the two of them.

"No, pink's just stupid." Akira replied as she blew her tongue at him.

"Like I haven't heard that one before." Szayel remarked; watching as it only caused for his daughter to make a different face this time. A light chuckle escaped him for a moment before he caught himself and shifted his attention back to the seated Shinigami woman; she seemed to be in a greater sense of ease this time... if only for the moment though. "She'll be out in a few minutes to meet with you. Now then, if you'll excuse me again, I suppose I should go join with the others in this 'discussion' of theirs."

She nodded and watched as he turned to leave once more. Well… this sounded like it was going to be it, she was finally going to meet whoever this woman was… which slightly frightened her a bit. Did she really want to meet her? She didn't mean to think of it in an offensive way, after all her child was adorable and the father seemed… interesting but… who was she? What kind of Shinigami would settle with a Hollow? Part of her questioned if it seemed like a willing arrangement, but she tried to talk herself out of that option. It was rude to think about and she needed to keep an open mind about it, just like Captain Unohana had advised.

Still, the overall situation gave her another cold chill to deal with.

"Why do you want to meet my mom?"

The question caught her off-guard slightly and she snapped her attention back to the young girl. "I… I guess I just think I might know her from somewhere." she answered choppily. "She's a Shinigami like I am, so we might've crossed paths somewhere in the past."

The girl narrowed her eyes once more in thought before she bypassed whatever she had been thinking of. "Mom never really mentioned anyone she used to know…."

"I… well maybe she did before you were born?"

"Like how dad doesn't talk about Uncle Nnoitra a lot? He says he's an idiot but I think he's funny."

She chuckled once more at the child, at least trying to figure out where she got her light sense of humor from. "Maybe like that… hopefully not though. Well now, some of us use to act like idiots but-"

"Isane…"

The sound of her name from someone else seemed to echo emptily in her ears and run cold through her veins all of a sudden.

Something about that voice…


	2. Chapter 2

Part of her was almost reluctant to turn around but she noticed the way the pink-haired child before her seemingly lit up at the appearance of someone out of her line of sight. She swore she could hear her heart pounding in her chest, forcing the rapid heartbeats to echo in her ears. Taking in a deep breath, she slowly started to turn her head to look at whoever was approaching her.

She wasn't really looking for identification on the person, but if the woman knew her name…

Midnight-black hair was pulled back away from her slender face and knitted into a long, loosely-held braid that bounced side to side along her lower back; a small red bead was caught at a second's glance before it disappeared behind the figure. A shortened Shinigami's uniform dressed her form while a white obi sash appeared to be loosely wrapped around her midsection, as though it had been tossed on seconds before. The outfit piece showed signs of a few mild altercations here or there, mostly with how the short hemline had been extended just a few inches so that it dropped to about mid-thigh instead; it still revealing quite a bit of her bare legs though. Her slim arms were left stripped in the absence of the former guards that had once protected her wrists and forearms during combat. But she walked barefoot across the ceramic floors, which did seemed to support the claim that she had been resting just moments ago before their entrance interrupted her; hands were carefully readjusted the slightly sloping neckline of her uniform before they moved to push the wrinkles out of the rest of the material to appear more presentable to the public.

But it was those green eyes that coursed coldly through her mind.

It was those eyes that made her feel as though her entire body was on the verge of collapsing.

... They seemed so different now.

She tried to speak a few times, only to feel her voice fail her again and again until she was just moving her lips to nothing but air. It felt like someone had dropped an entire ocean of cold water on her, she swore she even felt herself shiver lightly.

"Nemu…?"

The name felt numb to her... it had been years since she last said it out loud like this.

This had to be impossible... there was no explanation for how the Fourth Lieutenant could be seated just a small distance away from her at this moment. How could the woman be here in the first place? And why? What reasons were there for her to travel all this way out here...? The questions only seemed to spark up and quickly die away as she paid no real attention to them; which allowed for them to bundle up and grow in greater numbers somewhere else in her mind.

That was the last time she would let Szayel leave without explaining something to her... All he told her was that there was someone here to see her and she guessed, at that moment, she had been too tired to question it. At least until now... when the surprise of this guest was enough to put her on full alert. It was enough to make her slightly irritated at the man, but she figured that he might've just been as clueless about this entire situation as she was right now. The whole matter of it... it was very odd to her, it almost didn't seem real at first.

"Isane." she repeated, feeling her steps slow down just ever so slightly now. "What are you… doing here?"

The Fourth Lieutenant continued to hold on to that feeling of losing words every time she tried to speak, which left her just sitting there, staring at the darker-haired woman. That very same question was racing through her head and practically dying to be asked in return, as though that would solve and/or answer anything between them. It was only when another slight tug, this one at her sleeve, knocked her loose from her thoughts and switched her waning attention back to child beside her.

"That's my mom." Akira whispered, as though the remark was meant to be a secret.

Taking another deep breath, she tried to crack a small smile for the girl but knew it was a failure from the start. "I uh…are you sure?" Isane questioned.

"I have her eyes, remember?"

There was no doubt in it now... she knew those eyes looked familiar for some reason, but part of her still wanted to refuse to believe in this whole situation. Was this really happening? It couldn't be… it had to be some kind of messed up nightmare of hers. This whole thing had to have been impossible.

She died here.

She was one of many who didn't get the chance to escape in time… but she had helped most of the rescue teams get to a place of escape... She remembered watching her get hit with that blast at the very last second, just before the Garganta closed. It was horrifying to witness and she recalled Captain Unohana having to use physical force to pull her back and keep her going onwards towards the Society. This couldn't be her... Could it?

"You're probably asking yourself a lot of questions right now. I am too." Nemu started; watching as the color seemed to have completely drained from the woman's face. She looked like she was about ready to jump over the back of the couch just to get away from her... She couldn't really blame her though, for years the Society had marked her as a casualty of war; something like this just wouldn't go over so easy. She tried to think of an easier way of going about this situation, but knew it would be better just to be blunt with it. "I see you've met my daughter... and more than likely, you've met her father too."

"Is this… is this real? I mean, is this really happening?" Isane questioned, unsure how to dictate the moment. At least she had her voice back though. "I get the feeling this is just another one of my nightmares…"

"Do you not like my mom?" Akira asked, intruding in on their brief conversation. Those same eyes shifted from one to the other as she tried to keep up with the words but had little context as to what happened beforehand.

She looked back to the child, who seemed as equally confused as the two of them. "What? No… no, we were old friends… we go back, I think."

Pushing a brief sigh from her lips, she carefully pushed herself to close the open space between them; it felt like she had to force herself to move at some points before she successfully managed to seal the distance that separated them. "As far as I know, this isn't a nightmare, Isane. Unless it's a shared one, which is next to impossible to do since two separate subconsciousness could not manifest the same images together. Let alone share interactions amongst each other."

"Well it sure as hell feels like one…" Isane replied sharply before it was followed by a long sigh and her fingers pinching the empty space between her eyes "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that in front of your daughter."

"I've heard worse." the younger girl assured with no hesitation.

"Akira, please." Nemu spoke as she carefully leaned down to move the child before she slid into her former seat; settling herself into the same corner of the couch, she let the pink-haired daughter nestle into her lap instead as she gently tucked her legs underneath her. She watched as the girl shifted slightly to find a comfortable spot against her before she seemed to settle with leaning back against her midsection. "... So why are you here?"

"Is that really important right now?" she countered, considering she felt that her appearance here didn't feel as important as knowing how the woman's been alive all this time. With a child nonetheless. And a... a... whatever one wanted to call the father of her daughter.

"Answer that question and I'll tell you everything."

She caught herself almost frowning at the offer... but figured it was the best start right now. After all, arguing back and forth for answers and details wasn't going to get them anywhere anytime soon... And she wanted the answers to this as soon as possible. So perhaps she gave in too easily to the offer, at least it guaranteed an answer in return. Sighing, one hand move to ruffle through her silver locks before she started. "Okay, long story short here. For the past few years, a couple of the Captains have been working on some kind of 'peace treaty' you could call it. They gave it pretty much everything they had but they finally got the notion passed through the council. It took them a few more weeks to get things together, but they're here because… they want to make a deal with the remaining Espadas. It's pretty much outlined to say that both sides suffered causalities and no one wants to go through that kind of pain again; we're hoping to lower the amount of attacks while both sides are weakened and still trying to recover. We want to avoid the same situation that happened years ago and since the Espadas essentially lost all members of command... well, we thought it'd be easier to try and sway them to agree to a pact. So, the Captains came here to propose the idea and so far, everyone's taken a liking to it, which… I guess I find surprising. The two Espadas we met when we got here… they're not how I had imagined them to be."

"I'm assuming you met with Starrk and Harribel."

"Yes… they seemed very… open to the idea, which is pretty much how we got a foot in with talking about this thing. Anyways, somewhere in the middle of the discussions, no one could figure out a proper way to get enough evidence to support this treaty, which is what we need for the full counsel approval. The whole thing was almost dissolved but… Starrk, I'm guessing, said that he had failsafe contribution to the matter. We didn't have any other options and decided it couldn't hurt to bite, so we followed him… that's where we met Akira."

"They seemed to like me a lot." Akira remarked as she snuggled herself against her mother once more, shifting her position all over again until she was comfortable.

"Of course they would." Nemu chuckled; gently running her fingers through those soft pink strands that gave away to her touch. She watched as the motion worked steadily to calm the girl and slowly, but surely, it carefully helped to drift her to sleep. She guessed the earlier attempts to put her to sleep had failed or had been interrupted... it didn't seem to matter now though. Aside from the obvious list of similarities she shared with her father, this was just yet another one to write down. The motion seemed to have the same effect on him as it did with her.

She found it almost difficult to focus on the conversation piece between them when her former, fellow Lieutenant was busy tending to her 'daughter' right in front of her. As odd as the whole situation was going right now, and how she wasn't sure if she could believe the sparse details of it... she had to admit that the interaction between them looked so natural, there was no way it could be fake. "Okay, so I explained my half, where's yours?"

That question was going to come up eventually... but she had her statement prepared. "Do you remember that day when you escaped here?"

That day had been forever singed into her memory. "Yes."

"And how he managed to destroy the Garganta seconds later?"

Another memory she couldn't shake free. "Of course."

"You probably thought I was dead." she started; watching as the silver-haired woman nodded immediately following those words. It was probably a redundant statement to say but she just needed the assurance of it. "If he really had wanted to and had been in the correct mindset, he would've killed me without a second of hesitation because of what I did for your team. But he didn't. Through all the pain and agony he had been subjected to, he lost a part of his stability and tittered on the cracking edge of insanity... When he failed to kill me, I helped pull him back over and away from that brink. And since then… I guess I've been the only thing holding him here."

The words had been picked carefully and spoken with a story behind them, and yet when she waited for the woman to continue... she was only met with silence; nothing else had been set to follow afterwards. "That's it? That's all you have to say?"

She caught the look of almost disappoint on the other woman's face and couldn't exactly pinpoint why. "I'm sorry, was there something more you were looking for?"

"I just… I wanted something more in-depth. I wanted something to explain this… and this and… the whole thing." Isane replied, using a few faint hand motions to get her point across. "And something to explain you."

"Me?"

It was so easy to pick up on differences someone else had rather than realize your own. "You're… you're different. It's so obvious- if you had changed your full physical appearance, I would've been able to successfully convince myself that you were a different person; I don't think I would've been able to even get a hint that it was you underneath all of this. But now… ugh, it just feels like I don't know who you are anymore. You never smiled or chuckled before, you hardly ever showed emotions and yet… you just… you look happy and I… I don't know why."

She watched as the silver-haired Lieutenant seemed caught up in different slurs of emotions and was completely clueless as to which one to follow first; they all seemed to twist together and leave her looking almost… betrayed in a sense. It was a difficult situation, she could understand the woman's mixed emotions with it. "I know it's going to be hard to understand- to some people, this is impossible." she paused briefly with her own words and dropped a quick glance to the sleeping child in her lap. "... I used to try to convince myself that those feelings were just there to keep him from losing himself, from hurting himself again, but… something happened and neither of us can explain it. It started as just a physical touch to keep him under control and through that, I learned more about him. I don't really know how to say this in a way that you'll understand, I don't think it can be explained in words… it feels like it all just happened one day when neither of us were looking."

"I don't think I like that explanation but it's better than nothing." Isane sighed almost tiredly. At least they both recognized the ongoing awkwardness and difficulty of this situation. They were both trying to explain both sides of the story when half of it was essentially blind to the other. They would just have to give it time and maybe speak with her so-called 'significant other' to get some kind of workable explanation. Until then though, she guessed she could say she was somewhat satisfied. "So… what about your daughter?"

"She's the result of one too many nights by ourselves."

It took a moment for the words to register and when they did... she wished they hadn't. "…That was NOT the answer I was looking for." Isane grimaced. "I meant like… forget it."

"Did you want to know how she was possible?" Nemu questioned, watching as it took a moment for the other woman to nod in answer. "Well it took us a while to put it together but we figured out a plausible explanation. When his body regenerated itself inside of my own, our different cells were forced to mix together and after the entire process, some of his cells were left behind. My body didn't recognize them as being foreign, so when I was pregnant with Akira, even though her cells were technically registered as hollow, my systems didn't reject them. Which is why the pregnancy carried on as usual with little to no complications, which was a bit of a surprise because we had expected something within the genetic coding to go wrong but so far, everything seems normal."

"Wait, wait, wait... what do you mean when his body regenerated itself inside of yours...?"

"That's another story that... I'm not comfortable with getting into at the moment."

While she might've found it odd and suspicious for the woman to bring the topic up and then shut it back down, she figured it wasn't her place to ask right now; if she wasn't comfortable with talking about it then there was little else she could do. Instead, she offered a brief, almost nervous chuckle. "I guess I'm still just surprised you could get pregnant in the first place. I kind of figured since you were like an artificial being that… well you know..."

"As far as we've tested, everything works like normal."

Another one of those remarks? "I really don't want to know what you mean by that." Isane replied with a soft shake of her head, before she moved to change the topic matter. "You know, your daughter is really… different for her age."

"She has enhanced mental abilities and last time we checked, she's technically working with a mindset four years in advance and that ability is steadily increasing." Nemu explained, watching as the topic daughter shifted once more in her sleep before she turned to bury herself into her open side. "She has enhanced speaking abilities, problem solving, critical thinking, everything that we tested she excelled at for her age. Given how the both of us function, it seems only reasonable for the same genetics to pass themselves easily down to the next in line. Now, she still acts like a child of her age, don't think we haven't noticed that. She still likes waking us up early in the morning and she still insists on following us around wherever we go- she confuses herself if we split into two different directions though."

The description of the girl seemed to suit well with what she had witnessed beforehand... as well as fit the profile of both her parents. "So she's like a baby Einstein then."

"Only smarter."

Isane leaned against the couch's back cushion and watched as the woman continued to carefully run her fingers through her daughter's hair; pushing the loose strands away from her face again and again. "You know, when they told me that the mother was a Shinigami… this was the last situation that I would ever think of, had I actually thought about it."

She hummed lightly with the woman's remark, seeing yet another glimpse of the secondary story here; the one that she didn't write and could only read right now. "Hmm, you should've seen his face when I told him that I was pregnant. I think it was a bit of shock at first and then he realized that this was technically the first kind of pregnancy to happen- after that, he seemed much more interested."

A light chuckle escaped her once more at the comment as she carefully allowed for herself to be a bit more relaxed now. "So… it's kind of hard to believe this is where you've been for so long."

"You get used to it and the people here." Nemu assured. "I'm sure Soul Society has changed a lot too."

"Let me tell you about it." Isane groaned as she briefly pinched at the space between her eyes once more. "With a lot of the Captains gone, there's been a mad scramble to replace them. It's been a few years and there are still some Divisions that have no one leading them, or they just have a substitute, which most of the time is the Lieutenant, regardless of Bankai achievement or not. Kira, and Hisagi have taken over their respected Divisions in the meantime; Captain Yamamoto ordered for Lieutenant Chojiro to keep with Hinamori since she's still healing from the aftermath of the final battle. For someone who had most of her bones and organs crushed, she's healing pretty well even though the injuries keep lingering even after all these years. Division Six is pretty much empty since Captain Byakuya and Renji both perished in the fighting; Division Eleven was empty for awhile but Ikkaku stood up and took it over- turns out he's had a Bankai all along. So now he and Yumichika serve as Captain and Lieutenant, which is… something that still needs getting used to. Personally, I think it's a bit dangerous but I didn't handle that decision."

She picked up on the light chuckle that went with her ending words and knew the given reason why. "Well at least you'll see Yumichika more now that he's a part of the Lieutenant meetings." Nemu spoke; watching as the woman seemed to blush for a moment but made no move to deny it.

"Yeah well… I'm not getting into this with you." Isane replied with a grin, trying to avoid the topic as quickly as she could. "You know, Akon's been taking care of Division Twelve all this time, but now that you're still alive, you could easily take it back. I mean, he does a good job but you can tell he's not really into it. I think he prefers to be one of those behind the scene workers and not really one to show up all the time. Captain Unohana said that he just seems kind of awkward during Captain meetings, but then again, I guess I can't really blame him. He and the others are so used to just taking commands, it would seem odd to be on the same level as the people you used to follow under. I couldn't imagine what it's like to stand across from Captain Yamamoto and know that you're technically on the same status level in a sense."

"Akon's a good man, he'll continue to take care of Division Twelve." Nemu assured.

"What do you mean by that?" Isane questioned, finding herself a little confused by the words. "You are… you are coming back, aren't you?"

"… No, I don't think I will be."


	3. Chapter 3

The entire walk back to the conference room of theirs was filled with deep, unrelenting thoughts that plagued the very back of his mind. Part of him was convincing enough to say that he had given in too easily, that he broke too quickly at the sudden offer of... peace or whatever it had been. To allow such strangers into his realm of shared solitude and intimacy... what the hell was he thinking? But... what right did he have to starve her of information from her home realm just the same? So what if these Shinigami leaders might've considered their first impressions of him to be manipulative and controlling? With her, overlooking their beginning rough patches and false starts, he had been willing to split the dictatorship into a democracy- especially after the first sense of conception.

Perhaps these passing years of little to no conflict had started to take the fight out of all of them...

One hand moved to rearrange his hanging locks for a moment as he slowly approached the door that would lead into the muffled voices of strangers. Fingertips moved to touch briefly against the doorknob and faltered for a short second before they eventually lead into a push to get the door open, moving it away from its less than eager frame. The room on the other side matched almost identically to the one those years before... at the picking up point after the war, it was obvious how eager creatures of habit they were; wishing to recreate anything they knew from memory. Now... it wasn't even the same. Had they been in charge of reconstruction at this given moment, he imagined a lot of this ugly palace would've been different.

The conversations came to a slight pause at his sudden entrance but they easily gave away to an onslaught of different questions- all of which he had been preparing himself for. He couldn't really blame them for their curiosity, he shared the same sentiments when they first found out... still, he wished a small amount of peace could be called from it.

"How exactly did you manage an offspring?" it was that shorter Captain again, something about him didn't settle well but he figured the man was sharing the same kind of feelings; he appeared the least enthusiastic about this whole ordeal, but he was the most realistic, which was just as important. In the end, he supposed there was an explanation for his behavior, that didn't mean he'd have to play well with it though.

And again, the Captain with the odd-looking Kasa hat against the back of his neck stepped in to answer, although he shared a few words too many. "Just like everyone does, through a delicate and tender process that is very natural to-"

"Not in that sense, Captain Shunsui." the shorter man was quick to interrupt.

Regardless of the rather icy tone, the taller man gave a brief laugh at the encounter and issued a short apology.

This was going to be a long day... that was easy to see.

Taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, he made sure he was well spaced between the two groups as though to make sure there was room in case he wished to get up and simply leave without another word. It was tempting and he was certain the feeling would only progress until the matching action was taken upon it.

Truth be told, he wasn't really all that interested in answering any of the would be given questions... Hell he wasn't really interested in being here overall. He just felt as though he was 'needed' here for support, which he supposed he had no problem in giving; it was just the giving out answers part that were a different story. He couldn't help but to wonder what the Shinigami Lieutenant was thinking of right now. If the two had recognized each other, then the situation might've been nothing short of awkward; if they didn't recognize each other, well then he supposed it just turned into an interrogation of the sorts. Actually, there was a good chance that that happened regardless if they knew each other or not.

He wondered how she would answer the questions though.

He supposed it was in the same manner as to how he would answer these ones.

The sudden overdraw of silence that flooded the room around them, however, convinced him that he had already missed the first one- disregarding the question that popped up when he first walked into the room. Just excellent.

"Well now, we weren't able to monitor the entire process but… from what we had gathered and heard, there was nothing wrong for the full term." Starrk answered, stepping in after the silence had reached a slightly critical length of time. One hand moved to squeeze the empty space between his eyes as he finished his remark. "However, I can't tell you all the details since I was largely absent from this event."

"You were though, right?" Shunsui started, shifting his attention towards him now; one hand toyed with the brief stubble that covered his broad chin. "I mean... you are the father after all."

Yeah, the question probably held some sense of importance to this matter... and he just missed out on it.

No sense in letting them in on that slip of the unbalanced attention span though.

"Well you are correct about the paternity of the matter... but what kind of specifics are you looking for with this?" he questioned instead.

It was the female Captain's turn to step in for a brief talking session. "We were just curious to if there was anything abnormal that might've happened during the pregnancy. I was just merely wondering out loud if there had been any side effects or possible health concerns during the trial; you mentioned before that she was still trying to overcome the last hurdle of an illness... was there any serious implications that arose from the pregnancy that could have caused this? There's no such record of something like this happening before... so this is really quite a one of a kind case, which can be both good and bad in a sense."

Oh yes, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised a question like that came up... he had finished giving that Lieutenant a rundown version of this same kind of explanation. And as much as he hated having to repeat himself... this called for a brief touch of necessity that he couldn't over look.

Pushing up on his glasses, he cleared his throat before he moved to answer. "We were curious in it ourselves and kept a strict watch during the entire trial. From the studies we carried out, we came to the conclusion that nothing out of the ordinary occurred and the child herself is perfectly normal, with some enhanced learning capabilities which were figured in to the original expectations. Perhaps though I should go ahead and clear some other matter up before you ask, just to save us all some time. Her hollow power has proven to be more dominant than any other possible trace of energy... No, we don't really know if she'll have full hollow powers or not, or if she'll even be able to gain a release form, it's far too soon to tell. And yes, she has still enjoyed a remotely normal childhood. No, she doesn't actually quite grasp the difference between Hollows and Shinigamis, the only difference she understands is that we wear opposite colors."

"Well… yeah I guess somewhere along the way I would have asked those questions." Shunsui nodded. "I guess it's a good thing we got them out of the way now, it'll make this discussion more efficient... hopefully."

"Out of curiosity, how exactly do you know that she'll be a dominant Hollow if you say it's too early to tell a lot from her energy alone?" Ukitake questioned.

"Because she was born without a heart."

That seemed to be the final nailing point in that topic, although he supposed he could've found a better way of arranging that into the discussion rather than just throwing it out there like he did. It was blatant, but it got the message across at least.

"Now... how exactly do we plan to put this into a correct context to work with our treaty?" Hitsugaya queried as he leaned forward against the table; his slightly stiff posture told the story of how he was going to bring up a topic that many of them probably weren't looking forward to. "Are we going to say that this treaty is possible because there is an open relationship between a Hollow and Shinigami existing currently?"

"Always with the questions and the complications" Shunsui chuckled, moving one hand down the front of his face slightly.

"Just imagine if you had brought Captain Soifon along for the ride." the Ice Captain briefly reminded.

"I'd rather not."

Harribel listened carefully as the Captains seemed to pull themselves in an open conversation over how to phrase it to follow along with their treaty and some brief remarks about how other, non-present Captains would have finished the job. Her blush-blue eyes glanced over to the Primera seated next to her, he held that appearance as though he was about ready to doze off at her side but was forcing himself to keep awake; it was a battle he seemed willing to lose though. Those same eyes eventually made their way over to the pink-haired Scientist seated just a few chairs away from them. It was easy to tell with how he carried that certain look in his eyes that he wasn't necessarily fond of the ongoing conversation and preferred to push it from his focus for now. It had been easy to spot when he first walked into the room and seated himself down that he wasn't focusing all of his attention on this discussion. She supposed she couldn't blame him... he had held that same look ever since the beginning of this mess.

"Szayel."

His name moved easily from her lips and yet she noticed that it still took him a few moments to seemingly register what had been said and who had said it. Slowly, those burnt-Amber eyes of his shifted into her direction as his expression broke into a small questioning outlook.

"Did you say something?"

He was usually a man of easy focus and knew where a conversation was turning before the tide of it even showed up. But now, he seemed to be fumbling for a brief sense of given attention and only answered things after someone else brought the question to his side of the table. It would've been curious to anyone who wasn't formally aware of the ongoing situation, and yet she felt it would only be courtesy to ask him regardless.

"What's on your mind?"

For a moment, she thought she caught a brief and sharp sigh escaping from his lips followed shortly by a quick shake of his head. "Too much and not enough."

Before she could get in another question that would hopefully call for a better answer... someone else moved in to take the space.

"Alright, so I think we have a majority of this treaty planned out." Shunsui started as he pushed himself to his feet for a moment, as though to bring emphasize to what he was about to say. "It requires a lot of planning but I think we should be able to pull it off flawlessly... that is when we bring every member into it."

The odd-looking man's words seemed funny to him and he made no move to hide the slight distaste at them. "And by every member…you mean?"

* * *

"Okay, so just to ask, there's nothing else I need to know about, right?" Isane questioned, fingers briefly toying with a silver braid that fell against the curve of her shoulder. "I mean, she's not going to have a little brother or sister anytime soon, is she?"

The question almost seemed humorous enough when it was posed and she thought she caught a hint of seriousness in the woman's tone. To her, the topic of such wasn't necessarily a new one... but it didn't seem like something that was spoken out about so publicly; then again, they weren't necessarily in public and a few years had passed by since their last encounter, the woman was only curious, possibly frightened by the aspect of another child showing up. "Well not now, but maybe in the distance future." Nemu remarked; watching as the answer gave truth to the situation and flustered the woman slightly. It was easy to tell she was still uncomfortable with the aspects of this relationship... she imagined that a lot of people would be, but to her it didn't seem so out of the ordinary. Hence why she could handle the topic with some ease. "Do you have a child?"

Frowning briefly, the Fourth Lieutenant gave a light shake of her head that was followed by a brief chuckle. She supposed she could cut the woman some slack... it had been a few years now after all, anyone could have forgotten about her slight uneasiness around smaller bodies. "What? Why would I have a child? Or more importantly, WHO would I have a child with?" Isane commented with a light shrug of her shoulders, but she watched as the other woman seemed to shake her head in mockery of her. "What? I'm serious. Not to mention, I do not at all have the possible time to raise one."

"True, now with Yumichika as a Lieutenant, he's just as busy."

It was an immediate snap into another frown at the words that left the other woman's lips. "Why do you automatically assume it would be with Yumichika?"

Even after all these years, she still remembered the two used to act and carry themselves around one another; it was sight no one could ignore and a lot of the others giggled over. She wouldn't have really said anything about it then but now... well the topic was up and out there anyways. "Isane, everyone knew."

"They did not." she quickly objected.

She started to reply and point out the woman's quick reaction, not to mention the reactive blush that rushed across her face and the obvious signs of flustering that only commonly followed someone being put on the spot; or someone trying to desperately object to something that was stated outright in a rather silent but physical manner. But she stopped when her eyes caught sight of a figure just now walking in through the doorway and moving rather steadily towards their direction. She could already tell by his tense expression that he did not seem to be enjoying himself and appeared to be simply forcing himself to go along with some kind of matter regardless. Sometimes it could take ages to irritate the man, and other times it only took five minutes... this seemed like one of those situations that took up on the latter.

"I apologize for interrupting." Szayel spoke as he approached the two. There was a light sense of surprise to be taken at the observation of their open expressions and upbeat emotions. Well it had been a possible reaction out of many, he didn't really think it had that great of a success rate... perhaps he had miscalculated their previous relationship. "But I need to talk with Kurotsuchi for just a few moments alone."

There was still something off about that man... something she couldn't necessarily put her finger on, but she decided to ignore the feeling as best she could. After hearing what the other, former Lieutenant had to say about him- the appropriate portions anyways- she supposed he wasn't really as bad as her first impression had been. Something about his current expression spoke of irritation though, so she wondered if the Captains might've had something to do with it. Regardless, it would be rude of her to stand between them at this time. "Of course." Isane nodded lightly as she slowly pushed herself back to her feet; hands moving to brush the wrinkles out of her uniform.

"Your Captains are waiting just outside if you wish to go speak with them." he informed.

Hmm perhaps maybe now she could get some insight on what had to have been said before. Still, despite the ongoing awkward situation, she felt a small ping of excitement just the same. The mystery of the whole situation had been unraveled but only she knew the secret from what she could tell... which is what made it almost fun. All these years of tension and loss were finally over, giving in to an ending she didn't predict at all... still she supposed this ending wasn't all that bad. "Can I-?" she started, looking back to the other woman for a moment.

A light chuckle followed her as she figured the woman was going to pose a question like that eventually. And as much as she would rather keep this delicate environment guarded, she didn't want to inhibit the Lieutenant this final sense of happiness and freedom. She gave a light nod and let a small, rare smile catch the corners of her lips. "Go ahead."

The offer didn't go unnoticed though.

"Can I go with her?" Akira questioned, the words half mumbled in sleep as she pushed herself away from the cushion she had made of her mother's side. One hand moved to work the sleep out of her eyes before it pushed aside the messy strands of hair that had fallen into her face. "I want to meet her friends again."

She sighed briefly at the question and watched as the girl gave into a short yawn; fingers moved to help her tuck aside some loose strands that slipped past her grasp. "I don't know, you'll have to ask your father."

Immediately after, she turned those green eyes that mimicked the same shade as her mother's towards him instead. "Dad…"

Damnit, he really hated it when she did that. Pushing up on his glasses, he gave a slight nod. "Go for it. Starrk and Harribel are out there with them." he started, watching as the small girl slowly managed to roll herself over her mother's legs before she moved off the side of the couch as well; the Lieutenant had been standing in wait for her accompany and she hurried to catch up with the woman. He waited till the both of them were at least out of earshot before he let a long sigh pass through his lips. "Who was that?"

Just ever so curious, wasn't he? She figured they would have at least done introductions before... he probably couldn't link names with faces though; or he just hadn't been listening properly beforehand. "That was Isane." she answered, watching as he eventually moved to take the empty space next to her; keeping some amount of space between them... which was odd. "She and I were Lieutenants together in Soul Society; she worked in the Fourth Division, which is where we usually crossed paths all too often."

Yes, he thought that name sounded familiar from somewhere. "What are the odds?" he remarked lightly enough, as he carefully readjusted his glasses once more. "I'm guessing you two were just catching up on old times then?"

"Something like that." Nemu nodded, saying the words with ease as she noticed that he barely seemed to be paying attention to her anyways. It was rare to catch him in a state like this, one where he just seemed as though he was consistently off-guard. "... You can stop worrying about me now."

"I wasn't- okay, yeah I was."

Another light chuckle passed her at his easily broken answer. "You can't fool me."

He bet she just loved getting all of her answers right. Still though, he shared the brief sign of ease and may have let his own chuckle slip just the same. "It was all just a… little surprising that's all." Szayel replied.

She believed every single one of those words... this sudden break of routine and habit was not predicted or even really imagined. Isane had made a remark about how she wished things had gone differently or how she used to have nightmares about the war; she couldn't really say that any of those affected her. Time went on and she moved with it, never once looking at the events that had passed them by. Everything just seemed so at peace here... more so when they locked themselves away into this private little fortress. But those gated walkways and brick walls were bound to break down eventually, right?

Fingers moved forward for a moment to lightly play with the pink strands that ran down along the curve of his neck. She always thought of how funny it was when he turned down every possibility that their child would inherit his signature pink locks, always saying that they would be a recessive gene compared to her more dominant black strands. And yet... look at how their daughter turned out.

"... When you told me that there was someone here who wanted to talk to me, she was the last person I would have imagined." she started. "Which reminds me, if you ever walk off without explaining the full situation to me again-"

He knew she was going to bring that topic up and it was still just as humorous as he thought it would be. Shaking his head, he watched as her expression gave in just a little bit of the overall annoyance at the earlier situation, but hardly enough to make it seem like much of a problem. "I just thought after so long, you might've wanted a little surprise."

"I had a little surprise three years ago." she lightly reminded. "... So what did they say?"

That was another thing he figured would come up sooner or later... and he wasn't necessarily eager to talk about it. He could remember just staring at the Captain with the pink kimono over his shoulders like his entire body had spontaneously burst into flames; the words of his so-called 'deal' were about the same as asking for a public show of a dishonorable suicide. She had every right to know... after all, she was basically the center of it, but he held no want to explain the situation to her.

"Too much to be honest." he eventually answered, certain that his distaste of this overall situation was already apparent to her. "But, they found out a way to get their 'deal' to work. There's still some small details to figure out, but they said it wouldn't take much to run through them and find something to balance them out. Their apparent plan of action would work suitably for them... but it's horrendous; it would hardly be called a fair trade in terms of viewing both sides of the argument. Personally... I don't like it; it's not concrete, it's too uncertain, too rough and I don't think I could allow for it to pass given the circumstances."

"What is it?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So I know I just started this story and all, or at least that's how it feels like, but I just can't bring myself to work on it right now. I've completely fallen out of Bleach at this point and because of that I've pretty much lost all ambition to type something related to it. Hopefully I can overcome it for the sake of this story at least but in the case I don't update any time soon, it's because of that. **

She had observed him go through different stages of irritation and annoyance before... but this time seemed to hold a different kind of level, like it deserved it's own type of category. It wasn't more so just the tension in his jawline, or the way he kept his arms tightly crossed over his chest... overall, he just seemed as though he was trying to avoid the fact that she was sitting just a foot or so from him.

"… They want you to go back to Soul Society with them."

When the words finally slipped away from his lips, she could see the explanation for his behavior.

It didn't take much for her to register the remark and note how his own sense of dismay flooded his tone and poisoned the given words. It was almost an odd kind of offer... she had just finished telling Isane that she had no plans on going back; any sense of belonging she had once shared with that place was gone. As difficult as it may have seemed for the other woman to comprehend, this odd, desolate desert world around them brought her more comfort than she could ever be in touch with. After all these years though, things would be far too different for her to be comfortable with, even she herself had changed too much to go back. While she was curious to see how it had been altered... she didn't want to remember what used to be there either. "No I… how does that help?"

He didn't know how she always managed to keep her expressions stilled, but sometimes it was a little hindering... she was a difficult person to figure out at times, but right now would've been a nice time to know what she was thinking. And while repeating the words the Captains from before had given out felt like fire on his tongue, he knew she had a right to know. "They were aiming for some kind of evidence to show how it's possible for Shinigamis and Hollows to exist without the need to kill one another; at least, for higher leveled ones since neither side can confirm that they would have complete control over every possible member in their dimension. We can't control the lower leveled ones that want to enter the human world and cause mayhem and they can't just stand aside and ignore the crisis of that. Even in this stage, the few of us here still hold the power to cause significant damages if we really wanted to... and the same goes for their side. So they figured if they could prove that higher members such as the ones here can co-exist around one another without provoking another war, then maybe there's a chance. Unfortunately that's where we step in... or you at least. You're one of their kind, you know what it's like to have stood on their side and yet you find yourself here with little to no problems- at least, from what they could tell. Hence why their main piece of evidence would revolve around us... but their centerpiece of the whole matter would be Akira essentially. I think they want you to bring her with you should you choose to go."

They made a decent, solid point, she had to give them that. By pointing out that she was a Shinigami herself, that she had stood with them a few years before, it would be understood that she registered Hollows in the same light the rest of the Society had. And since she was just like them but had adapted to being around Hollows for a decent length of time with little to no conflicts, it would be a proving point that everyone else could too. Well, perhaps not everyone else... but it was just possible that their two species could co-exist without attacks. They didn't have to like each other or be friends, all they had to do was survive while the other species existed as well.

They just wanted to avoid another war, that was it.

The Captains couldn't risk anymore causalities.

And the same went with the Espadas.

At this point, it was just about surviving and nothing else.

It was a simple situation that was proving to be more complex with every passing minute and expressive word.

"Only on one condition."

The few words that left her lips caught him off-guard, pushing him from the little bit of support he thought he had a grip on. Again, this would've been a great situation to know what the hell was going on inside of that head of hers... but he could only make appropriate guesses and create a half-assed thesis of why she would even give in to that kind of suggestion. Those amber eyes of his narrowed slightly in question at her remark as he tested himself on whether or not he really wanted her answer. He did... he was just partly confused on what it would be. "You're actually… considering this?"

She knew the moment those words left her, he wouldn't hold the least bit of appreciation for them. Maybe she was fooling herself into understanding him and his stand on this whole situation, it wasn't easy for either of them... but he seemed to be taking the hardest hit from it. She supposed a lot of it fell on his shoulders after all... Taking in a quiet breath, she rolled it around in her chest before she moved to give him an answer. "If you come with me, I'll go."

It sounded like a death sentence almost.

Had a heart even existed in his chest in the first place, it probably would've found a stopping point right then and there.

"What?"

"I don't like the thought of the overall idea either... but just the same, I don't like the idea of taking Akira somewhere without you." the words sounded more like a confession rather than an extended explanation for her earlier answer. It felt like they stumbled on the tip of her tongue and made it difficult for her to speak further. "I'm not comfortable with the fact that I'd have to be separated from you or... that you wouldn't have me around. This overall situation feels too sudden and there's too much room for error and difficult technicalities. I'm not going to risk it... even if I have no doubt that I could protect Akira in any way should something occur during this whole exchange... there's always space for failure and I'm not perfect; it's a risk I'm not going to take a chance on."

When she worded it like that... it almost made sense to him. It didn't change his mind but it made sense at the very least, and that was something.

He was all up for trying to make something like this treaty work out, knowing that eventually Akira would get older and have to face this world just the same... and that at any time during that process, if a war did start up again, she would be caught up in it; he didn't want to see her become a victim. But this... loose ended solution was almost the breaking point for him. Just the same, it would be the breaking point for everyone involved in this matter.

"So… you would only go if I did?" he repeated slowly, just to make sure he had heard her correctly in a sense.

She glanced over at the remark, hearing the odd words she had spoken moments before being repeated back to her. In a way, she could see why they sounded so strange and odd... she could see why he didn't appear the least bit happy when they had been said in the first place. "Maybe…" she nodded softly, dropping her eyes to the black uniform that still dressed her body. Before, it used to stand for something but now... now that meaning felt as though it had been lost. "I'm not so sure anymore. It would be interesting to witness after hearing everything Isane had said about it, but I don't think that kind of change is what I want right now."

"Akira would probably love the place..."

"Yes... I could see her enjoying it." she agreed. "She would find out what a sky looked like and what the sun was... she would figure out grass and leaves, she'd probably wonder why things happened in certain orders; she'd want to know flowers by their names and what every butterfly represented. Her curiosity would probably triple and I think we'd eventually run out of answers to give her."

"That certainly would be a challenge for her, wouldn't it?" he humored lightly.

"And one she would not give up lightly on."

One hand moved to push his light strands away from his face for a moment as he tried to recollect his thoughts and drive together all the words and opinions he had gathered up to this point. There was still a lot to solve and make sense of, a lot that needed proper diagnosis on and a clear dissection to finally uncover what was needed and what would be the proper driving force of this whole ordeal. He eventually pushed himself back to his feet, feeling as though their previous conversation gave him very little to work off of. "They wish to speak further about this whole exchange with everyone involved... I should probably see to their retrieval for this purpose, if that's alright with you."

She moved to mimic his same movements and graciously settled back on her feet just as well. "I think I'll try to make myself decent before this meeting."

Personally, he thought her loose braid and wrinkled uniform made her far above just decent... but in the eyes of company, he supposed the look was more of an intimate one instead. He watched as she carefully made her way back across the room and disappeared into their bedroom, quietly closing the door behind her. Shaking his head once again, he forced himself into the other direction and kept a steady gait as he approached the entrance door... aware of the faint voices that were echoing just behind the thin walls. What was being said wasn't necessarily clear but there was an ongoing conversation happening. Every step along the way was just a bit more forced than the last as he tried to ignore the spinning of different scenarios that went running through his head; it was a bit harder to ignore seeing as those very same scenarios would be linked to this upcoming discussion... which could lead to a greater change should it go along the correct path. Not a path he was looking forward to but... possibly the best opinion everyone had at this given moment. He pulled in a deep breath just before he reached forward and reluctantly pulled the doors open and away from their protective frames; revealing the small crowd that stood around on the other side of it.

"Alright, I suppose now would be a good time for us to continue this discussion-"

"Why do you wear such a funny-looking hat?" his immediate interruption was by the very same figure they had been discussing before hand... her curiosity often times avoided any sense of manners or self control in her words. He supposed her childish looks and cute questions were usually what got her out of trouble from time to time.

The taller Captain the question had been directed to seemed to take it all with ease and lightness as he moved to push the hanging kasa from the back of his neck to fit more suitably on his head instead; showcasing the full attire to the shorter girl. "Well I don't think it's so funny-looking." Shunsui remarked, running his fingers along the rounded edge of it.

The show seemed to entertain her for a brief moment before she found another matter to answer her previous question. "Maybe it's just you then." Akira offered with a light shrug.

It was almost funny to think that the single piece of evidence that might tie their two species together... also had a possible chance of breaking it just the same.

A heavy sigh escaped him at the girl's persistence, but he supposed there really wasn't any sense in trying to contain her. Not to mention, that sounded like a perfect response for her, certainly not the first time she's pulled something like that. "Akira... you'll have to excuse her, she tends to have no self-restraint on what she's saying sometimes."

And just like her though, she tried to find a battle in anything, regardless if it was in words or not. Her eyes narrowed briefly as though in question, or as though she was recalling back to something else. "Is that kind of like with you and mom?"

Gods. Damn.

A light chuckle escaped the Primera as fingers moved to touch at the empty space between his eyes; it was easy to tell he was trying not to say anything along with the girl- which seemed to be a difficult matter to do. "She's got you there." Starrk replied.

"I knew I should've just found a closet to throw you in earlier." he retorted quietly. "Or maybe just in the deep freezer in the back."

"There's a lot for us to discuss right now, let's put business first and... handle other matters later." Harribel interrupted as she stepped past him and welcomed herself into the large, opened room on the other side; despite the renovations this wing had undergone, she still felt the familiarity with it. Despite the nice, fresh coat of design and added spots of decoration... there was still a chilling sense of coldness that invaded the air; not a cold that would call for thicker clothing but more so of one that called for thicker skin so to say.

He felt himself cringe slightly at the thought of other people invading his space and being within his personal domain. That wasn't to say that he was claustrophobic by any means, it just gave him this unsettling feeling that he didn't appreciate in the slight sense. But this entire ordeal was calling for sacrifices from every side... it was only appropriate for him to follow in line with it all, not matter how much he hated every step of the way. Pushing the separated doors from his grip, he stepped aside to make the motion of allowing the others inside.

"You don't look so happy." Starrk remarked quietly, leaning in against the doorframe as he allowed for the others to step in before him. A gloved hand moved to scratch at his stubbled chin as he stifled a short yawn; this ongoing matter was making him exhausted but he really couldn't afford to fall asleep right now... or at least not until the important matters were out of the way. Still, he was aware enough to notice that the Eighth had not seemed the least bit thrilled when he opened the door.

A passing glance was moved over to the Primera before he gave a brief shake of his head. "Congratulations, you're right."

"Well I didn't think it would be too hard to make a guess on." he started. "So... did you tell her about it?"

Pushing up on his glasses, he gave the other man a brief nod in answer. "Yeah and... well, let's just say good luck with this discussion, because there's a good chance it won't go anywhere." probably not the best thing to say in a delicate situation like this, but right now, he didn't really give a second thought to matters outside of his own; or her own for that case either. He watched as Akira seemed completely content with following the silver-haired Lieutenant around; somehow through brief introductions and a small amount of time spent with one another, she had deemed that woman more interesting than the others. Or perhaps she just hadn't had the chance to observe each of them directly. "All I can promise is that we'll listen and hear out the entire discussion, but don't expect anything past that."

"That adamant then?"

"She said there was a good chance that she would go along with the whole thing, on the one condition that I accompany her the entire time." he explained. "So I guess you could say that she's not really the adamant one here in a sense..."


	5. Chapter 5

He had a hard time closing the doors and forcing himself to move to where the small group had gathered together into one area; it may have seemed of little concern from those on the outside of the matter, but... he did not like other people sitting around in his space. The fact that they were seating themselves on the available furniture pieces and carrying on senseless pieces of conversation like it was nothing tipped him off the most. Sacrifices had to be made though, even if it felt like he was really the only one getting his skin pulled off here.

Briefly clearing his throat, he pushed himself towards the group and watched as they still proceeded to keep themselves separated. Captains on one side, Arrancars on the other... It wasn't like he could blame them though; he wouldn't want to sit beside the others either. Of course, it was a little amusing to watch Akira go from one couch to the next as she passed from person to person. Her curiosity was something to question almost as she asked out of the ordinary questions, preferring to overlook the obvious matters and go for things that weren't necessarily important. She asked about why the female Captain wore a braid in the front, why one Captain wore a hat and no one else, why one man was so short and why the other was so pale. She queried small details like the Lieutenant's earrings and what was going on with everyone being here. Eventually she seemed to finally clue in and hurried over to where he was still slowly approaching, preferring to keep his steps as small as he could without them being noticeable.

"Where's mom?" she questioned, fingers grabbing onto the loose material of his uniform pants; those green eyes were partly narrowed and the corners of her lips were tucked downward as she looked to him for an answer. "Did she leave?"

"Where exactly would she have gone?" he replied.

"... Outside?"

"And why would she go outside?"

"... To get away from everyone?"

"Are you answering in the form of questions again?"

"Yes?"

Chuckling lightly, he moved to step around her and watched as she quickly followed after him, as though he was going to disappear just like her mother. "She'll be back in a few moments, she just went to freshen up a bit." that's all it took for him to say before the girl took off across the room in the direction of their bedroom, so certain that she would find her mother there. He had to admit the girl acted like she had some form of separation anxiety if the two of them weren't in the same room; perhaps the added guests just put her in a defensive feel for awhile. He could hear her still calling for the woman even at this distance. "Well at least she's gone finally."

"Is that some kind of routine the two of you go through?" Isane questioned, slightly curious about the brief interaction between the two. She had to note that when the girl was with Nemu, she was more calm and restrained, but when she was with her paternal figure, she was more observant and outgoing.

"I just find it more appropriate to test her thinking at random intervals." he answered. "It helps to keep track on how she's developing mentally, which... could still use some work."

"She's three." Harribel reminded.

"Don't use that as an excuse."

"Well she can hold a thought longer than I can, so that says something." Starrk spoke as he settled himself into a spot on the couch that seated him next to his cinnamon-toned partner. One hand moved through his dark locks as he glanced over to watch as the few Captains seated themselves across from them. He supposed with how they kept away even in a small setting like this... it probably didn't mean anything but it was a reminder with how their kinds still remained on odds with one another. He tried not to put too much attention on it though, it was just a seating arrangement after all.

He supposed it should've been mentioned as well that the pink-haired Scientist kept his distance just the same from both parties, choosing to keep himself isolated in the room; he took a seat that kept a good distance from everyone else.

"It's hard to think when you're asleep all the time though." Szayel remarked.

"Can't deny it."

Harribel shook her head at their brief interactions and tried to set up how the conversation would go from here. There was a lot to be said but no one looked like they wanted to be the first to say it… if anything, the Captains appeared to be distracted by some other matter. From what few pieces of the conversation she could pick up on though, they seemed to be discussing matters about Kurotsuchi; she imagined it wasn't going to be easy for them to wrap their heads around it, but at this point they didn't have a choice in the matter. It had only been a small collection of years since the woman had stayed with them, and while she tended to keep in this wing alone, every now and again they would interact. Personally, she found no faults in the woman and actually liked her rather quiet nature- she thought it helped to balance out the Eighth a bit more.

"Are you certain it's her?" the Captain, Shunsui, questioned; leaning forward slightly as he glanced down to where the Lieutenant was sitting on the far end of the couch. "I mean… without a doubt, that is."

Isane wrinkled her nose slightly at the question. "I'm certain of it. I spoke with her just five minutes ago, it's without a doubt, I assure you."

"I just wanted to make sure, I mean… Lieutenant Kurotsuchi was a complicated figure… at least, from what Nanao-chan told me."

A light chuckle escaped the Fourth Captain as she leaned back more so to find a comfortable spot; she was a little surprised to see the amount of reconstruction that had taken place in such a short amount of time… it looked as though almost every room had been remodeled and refurnished in some way. Then again, she supposed she hadn't gotten the chance to search all too many rooms just yet, she could still be terribly wrong. "Well regardless of what you heard, I'm excited to see the Lieutenant once more."

"Is she in the same condition at least?" Hitsugaya remarked beneath his breath, a faint burst of cold air escaping from between his lips.

"Please, let's not be so pessimistic." Ukitake tried to assure, giving a brief pause in his words before he continued on- in a lower volume this time. "I'm sure Lieutenant Isane would have said something in the case that there was a difference."

"Well, I mean… she looks like she gained a little bit of weight…"

Interesting conversation to say the least.

The slight hint of a chuckle caught her attention though and she broke her attention away from the Captains and towards the source; watching how the scientist pushed up on his glasses while his lips were curled into a slight grin.

"That is an unsafe topic for everyone involved, Lieutenant Kotetsu."

How much longer were they going to wait? Well now, she supposed it wasn't any easier for the woman, considering that these were the people who had believed her to be dead for years now… if anything, the whole situation balanced one being almost awkward really. The woman could take however long she needed then, after all it gave her more time to figure out what they would be saying during this entire conversation…

It did leave her to wonder where Nell and Nnoitra had off to, the fact that neither of them had picked up on the Captain's energy was strange… on second thought though, she marked it up as a spark of luck; the last thing they needed right now was added stress on this matter. Perhaps the former Third was keeping the other man in check during this moment. Ulquiorra would more than likely have caught on but he wasn't appearing either, perhaps on purpose though.

The sudden absence of voices told her something had happened though.

He really knew better than to spare a laugh at the comment from the other Lieutenant, after all the given topic was a bit of an unsafe subject to bring up. He supposed he really only found it rather humorous because, personally, he had noticed the subtle differences and such but thought they added to her character. After all, he didn't see any problems in the extra curve of her hips or the added shape to her bust. The light touch of someone else's hands against his shoulders broke his attention away from those thoughts though; the touch of pressure started out lightly before fingertips bore down into the thin space above his collarbones, gradually turning the touch into an almost painful squeeze. She only seemed to do so to bring his full attention back to her and sometimes he hated when she did it… it only seemed to be a reminder for the slight increase in her physical strength through the short years.

"Oh my goodness."

"Well I'll be damned."

"Kyōraku, please mind your language."

"Ha ha, dad what does-"

"What do you think it means?" he interrupted enough to keep the girl from finishing her question, watching as she peeked up over the arm of the chair. She kept that same look from before with the narrowed eyes and frowning lips; a few stray strands of hair fell into her face but she didn't bother with pushing them out of the way. "I'll take it by your silence that you don't know perhaps?"

"Calm down you two." Nemu requested, eventually releasing her grip on the man's shoulder; catching the way he slightly rolled them back to relieve the tension. She watched as the pink-haired child eventually took off to where Isane was seated and made her move over enough to give her room on the couch space next to her; the movement was enough to lead her eyesight over to where several of the Captains were seated. There was the Fourth, Thirteenth, Eighth and Tenth just as Isane had said… she guessed she just never really accepted the matter until now since they were blatantly sitting right in front of her. She didn't really know what to say to them… for once, there was absolutely nothing running through her head.

Perhaps it was best to stay quiet for now.

Unfortunately enough, it seemed like everyone else had that same kind of mindset, causing for the room to spiral rather quickly into dead silence. This wasn't exactly how she imagined the meeting to go, she guessed everyone just needed a few moments to calm down and get over the initial shock.

"Right… down to business then." Starrk started, clearing his throat briefly to try and break the silence. "We have everyone here, as requested, so let's try out the details of this matter again."

"What matter?" Akira questioned, leaning forward in curiosity, although she was barely seen from around the Fourth Lieutenant.

Why did it seem like her question only made the whole room feel even smaller now?

It would be difficult to explain to a child that something that seemed perfectly normal to her wasn't so readily acceptable by everyone else. Just yet another topic that put everyone in a tight spot… but for someone as young as her, at least she'd be able to get the full story now and ask the correct questions. Hopefully anyways.

The immediate silence that continued seemed to gain the young girl's attention though and she frowned as no one offered to answer her question.

"Dad…" she eventually called, drawing out the word for as long as she could.

He should've known she would come calling to him eventually… she always did regardless of what was going on. Even if he didn't agree with a matter like this, he supposed he should figure out a way to explain it as lightly as he could without his own opinion seeping into the matter. "How would you like the chance to explore a different dimension?"

The return question appeared to have caught the girl off-guard for a moment before she looked to the other people in the room as though they would help to formulate an answer; it seemed to work in a small manner as she turned her attention back to him after a few moments of thinking. "What's it like? Who's going to be there?"

"The people you're sitting with."

"It's uh… it's where we live." Isane stepped in, figuring it wouldn't hurt to try and help along with the case. She didn't think she'd be any help, but she could try. "Much like you have this… central area here, we have our own main city that's completely different from anything here."

"Different? How?"

"I guess you'd have to see it to understand." he remarked.

Again, his answers only seemed to be frustrating her further since he wasn't giving her the information she was seeking. This was probably about as far as he was going to talk about this matter without getting involved with the topic. What else was there to say?

"Do you mind if we spoke about this matter without the pup's interference?" Harribel requested; figuring soon enough the girl would understand or at least figure out part of the plan. Right now, she just wanted to see how this full debate would go… it was important that they got it over with now, or at least started it.

The woman had a point…

"She'll catch up eventually." Szayel nodded. "It's best we get this matter done with now though… So, for the sake of those new in the audience, would one of you repeat the whole given solution you said before?" maybe he could get a second take on the suggestions and possibly form a different opinion; or maybe just hate it all over again.

Ukitake cleared his throat for a brief moment at the requests and tried to remember all the details they gave out before. "Well, as it was discussed before, the main purpose of this treaty would be to prove that our different species could in fact co-exist to an extent around one another. That would only be in terms of higher-leveled figures… because that's all that we can promise at this point. We're not saying we have to write letters back and forth, but it's more of a mutual understanding thing; a compromise to simply leave each other alone to live on with the rest of our lives. We all lost in that war a few years back; I don't think any of us here could risk losing any more. But… in order to have the counsel on our side for that motion, we have to have solid evidence with us. And as much as this kind of interaction between one another is seen as a relief, it's nothing we can take back and show off. Just the same, it's not guaranteed to last forever either. The counsel would want something they could see and understand, which… is where the three of you come in."

"Despite how rough-looking the counsel can be sometimes, I highly doubt they'd be able to turn down someone with a charm like that." Shunsui chuckled, tipping his hat in the direction of the pink-haired child at the end of the furniture piece. "Not to mention, I think a couple such as yourself could help in swaying the counsel on further grounds as well."

"We just need a concrete solution to bring back and present to the rest of the Society." Hitsugaya interrupted. "So there needs to be an answer to this matter sometime today, regardless of how much debating it's going to take."

It seemed to take a few, elongated moments before a heavy sigh escaped the Primera's lips; fingers moving to squeeze the empty space between his eyes before he gradually moved his hand to rest on the leg of the woman beside him. "As much as we would like to look into this treaty of yours… the conditions you're requesting are outside of our range. We can't help sway the opinion much if the ones you're requesting the most from don't agree to the terms and conditions. I mean, I would hope for an operation as delicate as this it would come with precautions and extra measures to ensure nothing goes wrong."

"In terms of security, I would assure you that there's nothing to worry about." Unohana nodded. "I know that the decision to this matter will not be made easily, or lightly. All we ask is that you consider it for now."

Were they aiming to try a logical approach or were they aiming for something more along the lines of a pathos method? Each person who spoke had a different way of going about the situation, although each approach failed to move him much from his earlier position.

It was a failure of critical thinking; it showed the lack of proper evaluation and outside critique… How did they expect this method to get off the ground, let alone actually work. This 'counsel' of theirs sounded as though it was played more towards a logical answer- it would need something it could see, something it could examine and understand before it would make a decision. But… perhaps the emotional twist they were throwing on it was for the public's appeal, maybe hoping a sense of acceptance outside of this counsel's control would also help to sway the matter.

It all felt like a waste of time, but he supposed he had to give them credit where it was due.

They had determination for the matter and it was laid out to serve a good point… something they could all benefit from.

But he held no need to step foot in their realm of control.

And yet, he could feel that tight pressure of her fingers digging into his shoulders once more.


End file.
